FORCED MIGRATION IN KASHMIR

The flowers of their garden were withered

The lamps in their courtyard were stoned
The paths that led to their houses were darkened
And then amidst of frightened slogans
They were driven out from their homes
With no money in their pockets
With sun burning on their heads
And their feet on fire
They were edged to move on
With agony in their hearts
With pain in their minds
With innumerable sacrifices
With humiliation and defeat
Bearing deaths and births
Suffocating their dreams
On a path of thorns
In a habitation of scorpions
They were edged to move on
Now I hear extremists say
They can come back to their homes
If they atone for their sins
And seek unconditional forgiveness
For all their misdeeds.
In this suffering they are not even asking
Who should atone to whom.

INDIFFERENCE

You stone hearted

How can you feel
The sting of love
Or pangs of separation
It was in my virgin heart
 Where your love kindled a fire
I trusted your promises
i loved your innocence
But I see it makes not a difference to you
If I am angry or sad
In pain or pleasure
Your indifference
Is hidden in your silence
Your vanity shuts your ears
And you hardly hear
What I say.

STING OF LOVE

The priests of this temple say

Wake up from this sucidial path
The road which leads to love
Passes through the town of vanity
Is this the rhyme of pain
or passiveness of intoxication
That has become way of my life
She has parted her ways
How can we meet now
The knots set by destiny
Only entangle more when I solve it

IAM NOT WORTHY OF HER

She is there in her pink aparan

Sitting like a rose
My thoughts rise and fall
With the breaths
Of my tiny doll
Pray tell her not to raise her brow
For it makes my heart sway
You ask me what is her name
Knowing
My answer will bring her defame
I am so unfortunate O man
My name will be her stain
Like a honey bee
On a white rose
Look she is pure as snow
And soft like cotton flower
My name is like a rain
Which wither the very flowers
Waiting for a rain.

VIOLENCE IN KASHMIR

We walk in this great vale

With a smile loaded on our faces
Where life is on the tip of the sword
Our foreheads reek as we walk
Those who were once our friends
Now carry summons of death for us

Buried in a lonely house

Is a window we had left for light
Now seeing dazzling lights
Someone leaves his home
With a lamp in his tiny hand
No today is not Shabikadar day
But it is the graveyard that is galore with lights

In the spectrum of deaths

We leave our houses to ask whereabouts of our homes
That some light may return
Even from the homes of dead
And the day may break
To make the darkness end.
HATE

The hatred
I nourished
in my heart
Will someday
Cause my separation
The fire
Fanned over the years
Will someday
Burn my own heart
I ask myself
Why bread contempt
For those who were
Someday my own

SHE IS THE MOON

She came
And my heart
Flowered with joy
it little matters now
If the sun is down
It is not a moonlit night
But what difference does it make
She is bathed in moonlit
She is the moon
The clouds were not
Moving for a long
She let her hair loose
And everything was possible
Smell the air
It has been filed with her fragrance
IF YOU LOVE A FLOWER

If you love a flower

Love its surroundings too
Reach the tender flower
Only with patience
Carved from love and care
Kiss the petals gently
If you must
For if you do it in rashness
it will die before its bloom
Befriend the thorns
For they protect the flower
From the brute touch
Of a careless hand
O lover of the flower
A flower will only grow
In the loving care of dust and thorns
And not amidst your costly drawing rooms.

WHY FRET

The ferocious wind can’t harm you my tiny flower

If you are destined to stand lose no grace fretting
And if the nature wills your fall
All your strength and wisdom
Can’t withstand even a soft blow
let not the dust and heat of the day
Dull your color and fragrance
Smile and be sweet
Even years can’t age a light heart

MY LITTLE MOSQUITO

Come come my little mosquito

You have been hiding too long
Behind these dark curtains
And saving yourself
From the spider’s jaws

Had you been an unfrequent visitor

I would have feasted you
With a bowl of my blood
And allowed you
To prick your needle for a while

But you come too often

Stay for nights together
you awake me in my slumber
Come between when I make love
Pin me when I am meditating

Either make amends with me

That you will come only once in a while
For if you come too often
And swarm me with your friends
i can’t make any amends

It will be sad indeed

But not a bad deed
To interrupt your graceful flight
And let ‘Goodnight’ kiss you part
And lull you to sleep for ever
A LOST FRIEND-Yousuf

He was a dear friend

And a worthy classmate
And by all means
A noble laureate
We drank from the same earthen pot
Until a storm came
To scatter us apart
It pushed me from the vale
That we could never share a tale
And drink from the same pot
There in the vale
Someone whispered him a tale
That he threw his pen
To take up a sword
That cleaved the neighbor’s heart
And broke the earthen pot
Till a bullet on its way
In spring ended his day
May allah have mercy
On my friend and the fallen jaw an
And lead us all
From darkness to the dawn.

MORNING

The morning is cool

The breeze full of life
The sleep has not yet left its grip
And I feel the hangover of yesterdays

The birds are chirping

The Cooke replies my whistle
i wait and think
What makes these birds to sing
Is it the joy of the new dawn
After being drowned in darkness
Or catch of a new worm
Or feeling something we do not know

Is it the belief
That happiness need no reason
The flowers smile and open up
To receive the early sun rays

How many good mornings

I have slept away
Now I am determined to rise early each day
And introduce myself to the new dawn

LUCY REBORN

When the snow melted

And rocks lay naked
Lucy Grey awoke from slumber
She was fairer than the snow

She had dreamt a lot

And waited for long
Yet the angel of her dreams
had to show his glimpse

But she would wait till eternity

At last the wait was over
And the angel gleamed
“ I can’t stand you” said lucy

“Your brightens blinds me”

“ Do not be disheartened” replied the angel
“What you see is not my brightness
But a reflection of your own glow”.
HOME JOURNEY

The water of an ocean

Turns into stream
The stream turns into clouds
The clouds into rains
the rains flow in rivers
And mingles gain with the sea

Likewise the soul too

Takes different bodies
But ultimately mingles with the one
From where it was born
Why shed a tear then
When the body of some one you know
Changes into a new form

SURRENDER TO THE MASTER

I went to the cold Himalayas

I meditated on the snow for days
I bathed with icy waters
Yet could cool not my fires
Little did I realize
That it is not the fire of the body
But the fire of the mind
Which could only be set at rest
With my surrender to thee

POWER OF SILENCE
My friend,I turned you out
And heaped upon you
All kinds of abuses
But you uttered not a word
And walked away like a coward
In my hour of distress
you left me speechless
And made me pay the price
For your friendly sacrifice

ALONE

We come to the world alone

We shall leave the world alone
Alone shall we be accountable
For action and inaction
Alone shall we suffer the fires of hell
And enjoy the bliss of heaven
From whom am I covering then
My own sins and sins of others
When I know that they are hidden
Neither from me nor my God.

BE MERCIFUL

The desires had hardened my chest

And loaded my mind with greed and lust
The five friends of devil
Turned me to the evil
And I could not find
The key to your door
In the night of darkness
I heard a voice on a sea shore
“Tread softly and be merciful
God will hold your hand.”

STAY

You muttered prayers

With a wondering heart
And a restless mind
Unless you rest
And leave your miseries behind
And pray from the depths
Of your heart and mind
How can God listen to you
And be so kind

REMEMBRANCE OF YOUR NAME

Let remembrance of your name alone

Fill our mind with unquestionable faith
And our faith in you
Reaffirm our faith in ourselves

Let remembrance of your name alone

Give rebirth to our dreams and ambitions
That had weakened and strangulated
With fruitless effort and endless wait

Let remembrance of your name alone

Fire our hearts with passion
Multiply our strength with enthusiasm
And put fire of courage in our frozen limbs
let remembrance of your name alone
Drive away pain from our life
Hatred from our hearts
And ignorance from our mind

Let remembrance of your name alone

Kindle love in human hearts
Return sight to the blind
And health to the sick.

THE MOMENT THAT IS NOW

Watch this moment

Catch it to live it
For it is life
The essence of life

The moment that has gone by

Has gone for ever
You can’t recreate that
You can’t relive that

And the moment that is to come

Has not come yet
It is a day for away
You can’t live that now

Hey, look it is going away

Awake your consciousness to feel it
It is a seed of your achievement
An opportunity for your creation

I know you are low

Today living yesterday
Today living tomorrow
But now you will be strong
Watch this moment
Catch it to live it
For it is life
The essence of life.

I AM WAITING

Flowers please bring him to me

Friends pray tell me where he is
I have been searching for him in beds and groves
Flowers listen may be he has come this way
Know him by the shades of his face
Fire of my love may have blushed him
I know that he knows not that i love him
And I cannot tell him that I do
He can easily feel the fragrance of flowers
How can he not feel the warmth of my love
Tell him to come this way please
Flowers too are waiting for him
I hoped he would know today or tomorrow
But i lost my youth waiting

AND I STILL WAIT

I had heard your footsteps and waited for your knock

And you came not and i still wait for you
As a child waits for this father when alone
As a night waits patiently for the day to break
As the dew waits for the early rays of the sun for a morning
kiss
As the chicken wait in their nest for their mother
As a farmer waits for his crops to ripe
As animals in a forest wait for rain in autumn
As a blind man waits for someone to help him cross the road
As a flickering lamp waits for a fresh refil
But you came not, and i still wait for you

I SAW NOT A THING

The flower had bloomed

And I saw it not
The wind that came from the east
Was full of fragrance not known before
The clouds had moved away
To let the golden rays kiss the earth
The birds joined in the chorus
That came from the stream close by
The children stopped in their play
And shyly smiled at me
But alas! I saw not a thing
I heard not a sound
A sadness had come from nowhere
And fallen on my lonely heart

ONLY FOR A KIND GLANCE

I only wait for your kind glance

I am eager to give myself up to you
People blame me for being lost and dumb
They are right, I am lost in your thoughts
Pray take me not from the righteous path
And listen not to my waylaid heart
Heed not my desired laden thoughts
They are turbulence, in otherwise calm sea
Give me not a golden castle
My earthly house is all that I want
Why shower on me all worldly power
When I have come to surrender all before thee
Leave me not to my own mercy
For I follow what is not worth of following
I only wait for your kind glance
I am eager to give myself unto you

MYSELF

All night I was awake

Something was panicking inside me
And there was restlessness all over
So much to do and so little done

When I strolled in early morning

Without a glance my neighbor just went by
A dear friend looked the other way
And my companion preferred to walk by

Even the morning sun was hot

My feet ached and mind distraught
Why is everything so intrigued
That peace is a far off cry

I went to temple and mosque

I went to the Gurudwara and the Church
I listen to peers and DharmaGurus
But peace was still miles away

Only after much wandering and thought

I found after suffering in desperation
That to be at peace with world
One has to be at peace with himself
 What Shall I Call You
 
 
 
             What shall I call you,
             a dancing beauty,
             or an overflowing glass of wine,
             a moon coming out of clouds,
             or a ray of sun in the dense woods,
             a deer jumping in the forests,
             or a peackock opening its feathers,
             a rose sprouting from a bud,
             or a stream singing in the hills,
             hey, you too energise me,
             as they all do,
             what shall I call you,
 
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